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04 February 2010

The David Gilmour Fender Black Strat Project

I spent a few good weeks setting this strat up. Most of the time was spend waiting for parts to arrive. Most of the parts that I wanted to be fitted into this project could not be found locally. Or maybe I did not look hard enough. The parts needed for this project were:

Warmoth 1 Ply 11 Hole All Black Pickguard

Fender Custom Shop Custom 69’s

Seymour Duncan Pro Shop Custom Staggered SSL-5

Orange Caps

Fender S1 Aged White Knobs

White Single Ply Backplate Cover

Stewmac Adhesive Copper Shielding Tape

The cavities had to be copper shielded. These Custom Shop 69’s are true single coils and not reverse wound hence this step is absolutely necessary to minimize the noise level.

I had the original SCN noiseless swapped out and have the new pups put into this order:

Neck: Fender CustomShop Custom 69’s

Middle: Fender Custom Shop Custom 69’s

Bridge: Seymour Duncan Pro Shop CustomStaggered SSL-5

Rewired the new pups in with an orange cap. I maintained the original S1 Switch for extra tonal options under the hood. I have to admit that it's not a neat and tidy wiring job. I have the long leads uncut due to "resale" reasons that i might have in the future.

Swapped out the original pickguard with an all black single ply Warmoth pickguard and changed the knobs and back plate cover to an aged white set. I also made sure I did some fret leveling / crowning and dressing with my set of fretting tools from Stewmac.

And BOOMZ!

Not an exact in detail replica of the famous Gilmour Black Strat but it’s close enough for me. I wanted to keep some of the key modern features in this Strat. I have always preferred the 2 point synchronizing bridge and the locking tuners. It’s not a Gilmour Black Strat but more of a Black Strat with Gilmour’s influence made for me.